Author: Crandall A. Shifflett Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press ISBN: 9780870498855 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 284
Book Description
Using oral histories, company records, and census data, Crandall A. Shifflett paints a vivid portrait of miners and their families in southern Appalachian coal towns from the late nineteenth into the mid-twentieth century. He finds that, compared to their earlier lives on subsistence farms, coal-town life was not all bad. Shifflett examines how this view, quite common among the oral histories of these working families, has been obscured by the middle-class biases of government studies and the Edenic myth of preindustrial Appalachia propagated by some historians. From their own point of view, mining families left behind a life of hard labor and drafty weatherboard homes. With little time for such celebrated arts as tale-telling and quilting, preindustrial mountain people strung more beans than dulcimers. In addition, the rural population was growing, and farmland was becoming scarce. What the families recall about the coal towns contradicts the popular image of mining life. Most miners did not owe their souls to the company store, and most mining companies were not unusually harsh taskmasters. Former miners and their families remember such company benefits as indoor plumbing, regular income, and leisure activities. They also recall the United Mine Workers of America as bringing not only pay raises and health benefits but work stoppages and violent confrontations. Far from being mere victims of historical forces, miners and their families shaped their own destiny by forging a new working-class culture out of the adaptation of their rural values to the demands of industrial life. This new culture had many continuities with the older one. Out of the closely knit social ties they brought from farming communities, mining families created their own safety net for times of economic downturn. Shifflett recognizes the dangers and hardships of coal-town life but also shows the resilience of Appalachian people in adapting their culture to a new environment. Crandall A. Shifflett is an associate professor of history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Author: John C. Shideler Publisher: ISBN: 9780971046443 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 158
Book Description
A history of Cle Elum and Roslyn, two coal mining towns in Washington state. The book begins with a brief introduction to the area's geological origins. Chapters address Native American residents, the pioneer era, the discovery of coal and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway, mining and logging, the decline of coal mining, and the end of the coal mining era. Note: Roslyn, WA, was the filming location for the popular television series "Northern Exposure."
Author: George D. Torok Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press ISBN: 9781572332829 Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
A guide to the historical coal towns of the Big Sandy River Valley that provides brief histories of each town, descriptions of the buildings and structures that remain, and insight into the town's residents.
Author: Rand Gee Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1387294075 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
This book documents the history of the coal mines and coal towns of Thoms Run hollow. Read about the development of coal towns Beechmont, Hickman, Federal, Burdine, and Presto, PA. Get a sense of where the mines and towns were located, and about life in the coal patches. Understand the tough life that miners had in rural Pennsylvania. Learn the rich history of how one little road supported so much coal production and the development of Collier Township, PA
Author: Staci Simon Glover Publisher: Arcadia Publishing ISBN: 1439625522 Category : Photography Languages : en Pages : 132
Book Description
Uniquely, Jefferson County had all of the elements necessary for the fabrication of iron and steel within its borders. Coal, limestone, and iron ore all lay within close proximity to Birmingham. The right amounts of business acumen, industrial planning, and labor force came together creating the industry that made Birmingham the Magic City. The coal mining towns in the Birmingham Industrial District have rich historiesa Hollywood movie was made in one, a novel was written about another, and a soccer championship was won in yet another town. These coal towns and the miners who lived in them are as responsible as anyone for the birth of Birmingham industry.
Author: Crandall A. Shifflett
Author: Staci Comden
Author: Margaret M. Mulrooney
Author: John C. Shideler
Author: George D. Torok
Author: Rand Gee
Author: Malcolm Johnston Brown
Author: Richard J. Clyne
Author: American Constitutional Association (Charleston, W. Va.)
Author: Staci Simon Glover